The Class II's definitely suck, especially since there isn't a "normal" alternative available. When they were first revealed I understood what Hasbro was aiming for with the reduced size, but that shouldn't have come with a step down in quality. Hopefully vehicles go back to normal sizes for Episode 7. I would be extremely bummed if new stuff ends up being undersized with cheap construction.

As for what to do in 2013... I was balancing pretty well between Star Wars and GI Joe over the past couple of years, so I'll continue collecting GI Joe as I have been and try to save what I would have spent on Star Wars for the Fall. I do plan on picking up the Class 1 Vehicle sets and an Endor AT-AT, but those are minor purchases when spread over the course of the next six or so months. As always I'll be keeping an eye out for any good clearance or discount store deals. *cough*Five Below*cough* I don't think I want to focus on filling holes in my collection, as that ends up getting expensive very quickly for me as I think of more holes that require filling.

Back to the original qestion. Hasbro is always petty good for keeping the line going through the ups/downs...movie years/non-movie years. Thye have REALLY pumped out the product over the years. I won't mind at all seeing a break for the summer. Maybe come back and hit it with the 3-D movie tie-ins on and off over the next 2 years.

From a collectors standpoint, I think it lets everyone get caught up, gets everything in order for the new moves in a few years. From a company standpoint they just want to keep the product rolling out, and it makes sense. I'm excited for the new movies, but if they keep pumping out rehashes for 2 years...ugh..I can see the collector burnout starting to hit. I went through it for a few years not too long after ROTS. Sometmes a little break is all you need.

I think a lo are going back ad flling in holes, which is great for SW collecting. Purges some product off the secondary market, lets everone take a breather and get focused. I may even finish the search for the last couple comics I need. God, I'm hoping theydon't get carried away wth the LE Variant covers..the whole money grab LE/variant thing has been handled quite well in the comics category, hope it stays that way.

"We had a number of strong product initiatives, but consumer demand through much of the holiday season was less than anticipated in both the U.S. and certain international markets. As a result, fourth quarter revenues did not meet our expectations."

Yeah, all those awesome brand new GI JOE and Star Wars toys that came out around Christmas time just did not sell at all did they?

Oh wait, you guys didn't even bother putting anything new out. At all. You TOTALLY whiffed on X-Mas 2012. But yeah, blame it on consumer demand. How could people NOT rush out and buy all that old, played-out garbage?

Two words, Hasbro: Naboo Fighter.

I know it's easy to bash, but I swear it is amazing to me how this company is still in business as poorly as they seem to be run.

« Last Edit: January 25, 2013, 06:14 PM by McMetal »

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I hate to say it again but hasbro is every bit looking at "consumer demand" through the eyes of their retailers... Again did hasbro f up getting Naboo fighters out? If so, is Adam Pawlus a wizard and thats why EE has that case available? And Target, WalMart, etc. were all c-blocked by Hasbro somehow? Or did retailers just maybe say, "we're tired of buying into and devoting space to lines that have low sales rates", and they just didn't buy stuff? If the latter it's not distribution. It's a far bigger problem and one hasbro is making clear attempts to fix. Collectors may not like their ideas to fix said problem though, myself included.

It's a chicken and egg argument to be sure. I'm sure retail malaise plays a part here too, but after that redonkulous TPM deluge how can you really blame them? And if retail really is the heart of the problem, why not just say so instead of shifting the blame straight to the consumer? And how does that prevent them from selling new toys on HTS.com?

Anyhoo, dead horse and all that.

Let's hope they don't repeat the same mistakes with the Feb 11th street date this year.

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It'sa combination of things. You have clear economic realities which are impacting all toys. The rising cost of plastic and also labor in the last few years has resulted in the absolute shrinking of nearly every toy line, literally and figuratively. Articulation is gone, and so is any kind of scale, which SW is somewhat insulated from. Transformers have turned into their legendary knockoffs.

Couple that with the high price of the SW licence and the fact that the brand is fatigued, with a serious lack of mass market interest, you have the scenario we do now. Actually I'm surprised the line has endured the last year at all given the circumstances.